Keith Urban Was Encouraged to ‘Get Out of Country Music’ as Reality Show Contestant

Before he even considered judging the upcoming season of ‘American Idol’ or sat down in that big red chair on ‘The Voice’ Australia, Keith Urban had plenty of experience with singing competition shows. As a young boy, the ‘For You’ hitmaker appeared as a contestant on an Australian reality show that is similar to ‘Idol.’ However, he wasn’t as popular as he is now… by any means.

“I did a show when I was 9,” Urban revealed during a press conference recently, according to MTV. “I actually did a show in Australia, one of these kinds of shows with three judges, and one of them just completely crucified me.”

Apparently, the judge wasn’t even a little bit kind to the pre-teen Urban. “He also said to me, ‘I encourage you to get out of country music, just get rid of that of that nonsense get into some real music,’” the singer explained. “I obviously took it to heart.”

Hopefully, Urban will remember that experience and try to be especially kind to contestants on the 12th season of ‘American Idol.’ After several weeks of speculation about who would join the show, the popular country star confirmed that he will appear on the upcoming season. He will join new additions Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj, as well as returning judge Randy Jackson, at the judges’ panel.

“Keith is another great addition to Idol — he’s one of the biggest stars in country music and I know that our fans and contestants will fall in love with him,” Fox’s Mike Darnell told Entertainment Weekly.

Tune in to Fox on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting in January 2013 to see the new ‘American Idol’ judges in action.

Welcome back to KEAN A-List

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

*Please note that your prizes and activities will not be shared between programs within our VIP network.

Welcome back to KEAN A-List

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://keanradio.com using your original account information.